DPP limits nominees in legislative race

To snare a pan-green camp majority in December's legislative elections, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will adopt a conservative strategy, limiting the number of its nominations while seeking cooperation with its partner, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).

In a meeting on Friday discussing the number of lawmakers to be nominated, the DPP's legislative election campaign strategy team decided the party would not compete head-on with its TSU counterparts, a scenario that might otherwise result in unnecessary losses for the pan-green camp.

The DPP's strategy is to secure at least 10 seats more than the basic majority of 113 seats. The 123 seats would include legislators from each pan-green camp force, including the DPP, the TSU and independents.

The party therefore decided to nominate 92 legislative candidates for local constituencies in the expectation that around 80 of these could be elected.

Factoring lawmakers-at-large, allocated according to the percentage of the vote received by the party, the DPP would then gain another 20 seats. The DPP is therefore aiming for 100 seats, which, when added to independents' seats and the 20 seats the TSU expects to win, would fulfill the party's goal of gaining a solid majority in the legislature.

DPP Deputy Secretary General Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said that support for the DPP in the presidential election had increased by an average of 10 percent all around the country.

Based this support, Lee said, nominations for lawmaker for the December election had increased from the previous figure of 83 to 92.

In the 2001 legislative election, 69 out of the 83 candidates were elected.

However, Lee noted that even with the growth in pan-green support, the party had still decided to adopt a conservative approach with the number of nominees in order to avoid excessive competition with the TSU.

"We want to continue this collaborative yet competitive relationship with the TSU, which has worked out very well over the past three years. That's why we highly respect the TSU in expanding its number of nominations," Lee said.

Chen Chun-lin (陳俊麟), from the DPP's Public Opinion Survey Center, said that although the party had increased its support in central Taiwan, most notably Taichung County and Yunlin County, its support in the south had reached a ceiling. He said it was going to be difficult to expand its support there.

"Southern Taiwan is seen as the DPP's iron-clad vote. The DPP virtually hit a home run there three years ago when almost all of our candidates were elected," Chen said.

"This time around, however, it will be difficult to expand the vote for the legislative election. That's why we thought it would be better for the party to be discreet in increasing the number of nominations," he said.

In addition to adjusting the number of legislator nominees out of consideration of the TSU's interests, the DPP has also proposed establishing a group to integrate the campaign strategies of the parties.

Vote allocation

DPP legislative caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) yesterday suggested the party establish a mechanism to coordinate and integrate campaign tactics, including campaign materials and "vote allocations" between the partners.

The vote-allocation strategy refers to voters casting their ballots according to party instructions. For example, voters might cast their votes for one of two DPP or TSU candidates according to the last digit of their personal ID numbers. The strategy aims to distribute votes evenly between candidates and thus maximize the number of seats that can be won.

Tsai the DPP and the TSU should not compete with one another to gain the most votes for an individual candidate; rather, he said, they should work together to gain the highest number of seats for the pan-green camp.

To achieve that, Tsai said the campaign managers of both parties would form a committee to resolve tensions or diverging interests between the two parties' candidates.

The DPP's nomination strategy has been approved by the TSU, which plans to nominate no more than 39 lawmakers, the same number of candidates the party nominated in 2001.

TSU Deputy Secretary General Chen Horng-chi (陳鴻基) yesterday said his DPP counterpart had already contacted him to map out a blueprint of cooperation for the campaign.

"We respect the DPP's nomination strategy and we will work closely together in order to enable the pan-green camp to gain a solid majority in the legislature," he said.

Chen Horng-chi also said that the campaign and vote-allocation strategies proposed by the DPP reflected increasing cooperation between the two parties.

On the issue of a campaign theme, the TSU said it would focus on the forging of Taiwanese identity and the elevation of a Taiwan-based awareness.

To avoid running on a platform too similar to that of the DPP, TSU legislative caucus whip Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) yesterday said Taiwanese identity was something both parties could agree on, but that the TSU would maintain its own position on certain issues.

Ethnic conflict

Chen Chien-ming's comments were in response to the prediction of a number of DPP lawmakers that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) would neutralize the party's interpretation of "localization" to mend conflicts between the Hoklo (more commonly known as "Taiwanese") and Mainlander groups.

Chen Chien-ming said the TSU supported the broader sense of "Taiwanese identity" that includes all ethnic groups. However, the TSU would stand firm on its opposition to China.

For example, he said the party would oppose the government's policy allowing Taiwan's 8-inch wafer manufacturers and advanced semiconductor package-and-testing companies to invest in China.

On nominating lawmakers, Chen Chien-ming said the TSU would focus its strengths in the south of the country, while the DPP would work on northern Taiwan. This way, he said, the parties could complement each other's efforts.

Chen's echoed DPP statements that the ruling party would focus its efforts on increasing its vote in northern and central Taiwan where the party has shown encouraging growth in support.

Meanwhile, Chen Horng-chi yesterday denied media speculation that the party would invite some media and political figures to join its election campaign. Names raised in media reports include Annie Lee (李安妮), the daughter of TSU spiritual leader and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Wang Ben-hu (汪笨湖), host of the hugely successful pro-independence call-in show Taiwan Voice, and former health minister Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲).

Chen Horng-chi dismissed the reports as speculation, saying that the party hadn't been in contact with any of these people.

However, Chen Chien-ming yesterday told reporters that Wang, who enjoys considerable popularity in the south, had indeed been asked if he were interested in running in the legislative election. He said Wang had declined to run, but had expressed interest in running in the next Kaohsiung mayoral election.